HCU Huskies (0-0, 0-0 SLC) at #19/20 Southeastern Louisiana Lions (0-0, 0-0 SLC)
Thursday, Aug. 25 – 6 p.m.
Strawberry Stadium – Hammond, Louisiana
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HAMMOND, La. – The 2026 HCU football season kicks off this Thursday evening at Strawberry Stadium with a Week 0 Southland Conference matchup against the No. 19/20 Southeastern Lions at 6:00 p.m.
Thursday's game marks the start of year three under head coach
Jason Bachtel, who is returning to play-calling duties for the HCU offense this season. Bachtel handled offensive playcalling for two years for the Huskies (2023-24), a two-year stretch that produced the highest two-season win total in program history. Bachtel was the program's offensive coordinator in 2023 and head coach in 2024. HCU posted the program's two highest offensive yards per game season since 2020 when current NFL quarterback Bailey Zappe was quarterbacking the Huskies.
The HCU offense returns running back
Champ Dozier to the fold after he suffered a season-ending injury on the team's first drive of the 2025 season. Dozier was a second team all-SLC selection in 2024 after totaling 789 all-purpose yards for the Huskies. Also making a return for the Huskies is quarterback
Cutter Stewart. Stewart was on the HCU roster in 2023-24, throwing for 1,501 yards with 13 touchdown passes as a redshirt freshman in 2024 before transferring to Cisco College for the 2025 campaign.
Defensively, linebacker
Trent Zappe is back for his final season after an 81-tackle campaign last year in his first season with the program.
Jayven Anderson makes the move from safety to linebacker this year after totaling 52 tackles last year with a pair of interceptions and two forced fumbles. In the secondary,
Thio Georges recorded a pair of interceptions as the HCU defense tied for seventh nationally with 15 total picks.
Southeastern enters the 2026 season ranked in the top-20 in both of the major FCS polls following a 2025 season in which the Lions finished 7-1 in SLC play and earned a spot in the FCS playoffs. The Lions' lone SLC blemish was a 14-12 loss at Lamar.
SLU returns quarterback Kyle Lowe, who threw for 864 yards and eight touchdowns while also rushing for 452 yards and five scores in 2025. Deantre Jackson is the team's top returning rusher, carrying the ball 90 times for 586 yards and seven TDs last year.
As a team, the Lions boasted the top scoring defense in the SLC last year as they held opponents to just 18 points per game. Linebacker Jirrea Johnson Jr. finished last year with 57 tackles, four tackles for loss and 1.5 sacks.
Southeastern leads the all-time series, 9-1, but the last meeting in Hammond belonged to the Huskies. HCU defeated the Lions, 34-19, on Sept. 23, 2023.
HCU will return to Houston for game two, heading across town to Rice Stadium to take on the Rice Owls on Saturday, Sept. 5, at 6:00 p.m.
